Complicated
by taydo-the-potato
Summary: He wasn't supposed to like her. She wasn't supposed to fall for him. She got everything she ever wanted while he had to fight to survive. They weren't supposed to be together but opposites attract. But no relationship isn't without drama. College AU
1. Hello

**_A/N:_** _okay I know I have like two other stories that I should be working on buuuuuuuuuuut this has been in my Google Docs since NaNoWriMo 14. And I actually reached 50K so there's already like eight written chappies! So basically this will be a story I update every so often (probably when I'm struggling with Writer's Block with **Redemption** and **Pursuit of Happiness** lmaoooo) anyways here's a new story, hope you like it and don't forget to **Read &Review!**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter One: Hello**_

Out of all the places I could've worked, I chose the place that has the most people on a daily basis.

Back when I was a freshman, the thought of working was almost a sure thing for me. I had gotten a scholarship for my tuition and my room and board, but everything else was out of my reach. I didn't qualify for work-study, and I needed a job quick.

This was the only place hiring.

Working in retail, I've learned how to deal with more ignorance than I've possibly needed to. These entitled rich kids thought they could treat workers any way they wanted to and I was the first person to shut down any classist thoughts. Will liked that about me.

To the students, we were known as "Mini-Walmart." It was probably the most fitting name I've heard. Whatever a college student needed, we sold it. Cheap food, school gear, alcohol, everything. We were open twenty-four hours, but I almost never worked past six. I refused to deal with drunk white kids.

The first couple of weeks of school were always hell. Everyone came in during my shift, trying to get last minutes things for their dorm. It was our version of Black Friday. We usually had to close for an hour in the middle of the night to clean up the place. Everyone hated the beginning of school.

At the moment though, everything seemed to have calmed down and there was practically no one in the store. This was unusual for me, but I wasn't going to start complaining. I leaned against the counter and pulled out my newspaper for the day. This was the only time I had to read it.

"Yo Huey! Wassup, my nig—"

"Finish that word Nick, and I will not hesitate to punch you straight in the mouth," I quickly interrupted before he lost his life today. He shrugged and sat down on the counter next to me. "Did you check all the aisles?"

"Yeah, I kinda cleaned up and shit," he answered, looking down at his phone.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean 'You _kinda_ cleaned up'?" I asked. "You either cleaned or you didn't." He said nothing in response. "You didn't clean anything, did you?"

He shrugged in response.

Unbelievable. Nick was one of the laziest people I've ever met, second only to Riley. He showed up for work late, never did what someone asked him to do, and would leave for hours at the most inconvenient times. He was lucky his father owned the store or his ass would've been fired a long time ago.

I shook my head and continued to read my newspaper. He started to look over my shoulder, trying to read what I was reading. I knew he wanted to say something, so I waited for him to start talking.

"Why are you always reading the paper?"

"I'm sorry?" I questioned.

"Like, every time I see you, you always reading the newspaper. I don't think I've seen you read anything else but a newspaper." I wasn't going to dignify his question with a response. I focused back on the paper in front of me. "Yo, check out the group of girls leaving out through the front."

I paid them no mind because Nick had bad taste in women and I didn't care about anything he had to say. I was just here to get a paycheck and get the fuck out of here. I wasn't here to socialize.

"I'm gonna go talk to them for a minute," he said, jumping down from the counter and running towards the front door. He turned around first. "If my dad asks, tell him I went to the back or something. Just cover for me, Huey."

"Are you serious right now?" I muttered under my breath. Unfortunately for me, Nick was the only other worker scheduled besides me at this time. Which meant I was the only employee in the building right now.

I hated Nick.

I put down my newspaper and started to watch the store. I wasn't going to risk my job because Nick wanted to go chase girls. No one was going to get away with anything on my watch. I had to tell Will when he comes in for the day. It'll probably go through one ear and out the other, but I needed to tell him nevertheless.

I drummed my fingers on the counter while I continued to stare blankly at the wall in front of me. There was now no one in the store but me, and I took the opportunity to start on some of my homework. Might as well make use of the silence.

"Do you think I need a new hoodie?"

I looked up to see two girls walk into the store. The blonde girl said something to the curly haired girl before walking over to the food section of the store. The curly haired girl stayed in the apparel section, which happened to be in front of me.

I couldn't help it; I stared at her.

She thumbed through the women's rack, talking to herself as she looked at our selection. She bobbed her head to a song only she could hear, her curls flowing with her movement.

She was pretty cute.

She held a black hoodie up to examine it more. Her focus went from the hoodie to the person that was looking at her. Me. Her brows furrowed in confusion.

I froze for a second before turning away from her, trying to look at anything that wasn't the girl that just caught me staring at her. I grabbed my open textbook and buried my face into it. I've never felt so hot in my life.

"What are you looking at?" I heard the blonde friend say. She finally came back from whatever she was doing. At good timing, too. "Were you staring at the cashier guy?" she questioned in a low voice.

What?

"No!" another person said nervously. I assumed this was the curly haired girl. Was she looking back at me? Was she checking me out? "I was… just trying to see if they were hiring," she announced.

Well that answered my question.

The blonde girl gasped. "Jazmine, are you crazy? Your dad will kill you if you got a job!"

 _Jazmine_.

I looked back to the girls having a conversation. Jazmine just shrugged in response. She walked forwards to the counter in front of me. She gave me a huge smile. "Do you know if you guys are hiring right now?" she asked me.

Her friend followed her. "Jazzy, seriously. Think about this. Do you really want to be apart of the _working_ class?" she inquired. She said it with so much venom that I had to assume she was a privileged white girl. And I was usually right about these types of things.

"Cindy. I got this. I don't have to listen to my dad all the time," Jazmine hushed. She looked back at me. "So…? Hiring or nah?"

"I mean, we're always looking for people," I answered truthfully. Employees came and went during my time working here so I'm pretty sure Will was looking for some more workers. "You should come back on Monday and my boss will talk to you about it."

She smiled again. "Cool!" she beamed. Her smile was almost infectious. "I'll see you too on Monday maybe?" she asked, almost as if she was hoping that I worked on that day.

"Yeah, I work on Monday too."

"Awesome! So I'll see you and your boss on Monday," she responded. "By the way, my name is Jazmine."

"Huey," I said back.

She shook my hand. "Nice to meet you, Huey."

Her friend watched the encounter, but said nothing as she paid for her food. As her and Jazmine left, she pulled Jazmine close to her body. "What the hell was that?" she confusedly asked as they walked out of the door.

Honestly, I didn't know either. Was she just staring at me to try to get a job? Or... was she just using the job to cover the fact that she was staring at me? And why would her dad be mad if she got a job?

I didn't want to think about it because customers started to come into the store. I didn't want to be distracted by an awfully pretty girl who was flirting with me.

I smirked to myself.

* * *

My shift was thirty minutes from being done and I was waiting for the clock out of the day. As I was ringing up a customer, Will walked in the building. I nodded at him as he was walking to his office.

"What's up, Huey my man?" he questioned as he stepped into his office, leaving the door open. "Nothing happened while I was gone did it? No robberies, no thefts to report?"

"Nope," I answered. "Everything went well, surprisingly."

He walked to the front counter and stood by me. He looked around for a second. "Where's Nick?"

"Well, Nick left for about an hour doing god-knows-what, and then I think he went to sleep in one of the dressing rooms," I explained.

"I need to talk to that boy." Will shook his head. "I need to fire him and hire someone more competent than him." He started to walk to where the dressing rooms were located.

"Wait," I stopped him. He turned to look at me. "Speaking of hiring someone, there was someone that came in looking for a job earlier today."

He leaned against the counter and folded his arms. "What do you think about them? Did they seem competent to you? Do you think they'd be a better employee than Nick?"

"Anyone's a better employee than Nick," I declared. Will laughed. "I mean, I think she seems like a nice person and she seems like she would do a good job. Anyway I told her to come and talk to you on Monday."

"Wait. She?" he repeated. I nodded. "This was a girl? Are you sure you aren't saying all these good things about her so you can try to get with her?" he inquired. I felt my face start to redden. Luckily he was too busy distracted by an email to see my face. "I'm just kidding, Huey. Look, if you think she'll be a good fit here, then you can give the first interview. You're practically a manger here anyways."

"Oh" was all I could muster up. I did feel like a manager sometimes when I was working on a lot of things at once. Especially when Nick was nowhere to be found. "Yeah, I'll do that."

"Huey, when's the last time you've gotten to leave early?" he asked when he finally looked up again. I shrugged. I don't think I ever got to leave early. "Consider it a gift for finding another potential employee."

"But I didn't find—" I stopped myself before I ruined this for me. "Thanks Will," I humbly thanked.

"No problem. You deserve it. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go talk to my lazy son."

I grabbed all my things and clocked out before Will could change his mind. Not that he would anyways; he always stuck to his word. I made my way across the street to find myself back on campus. A few minutes later, I was in my dorm complex.

I took the stairs up to my floor, where I ran into Hiro. He stopped to talk to me.

"Hey man, what's up?" I greeted.

"Nothing, going to get some notes from this girl in my class," he replied. "Have you talked to Caesar?"

I shook my head. "Not since this morning, no," I replied. "Why? Something wrong?"

"Nah, he was telling me about something and I was wondering if he told you yet," he said. He started to walk again. "I'm pretty sure he'll tell you about it soon enough," he added as he walked down the stairs.

Okay, that was weird, even for Hiro's standard. Caesar hadn't mentioned to anything to me all day. I checked my phone. I hadn't gotten any texts from him recently. Maybe he'll say what he had to say when I got to the dorm.

I unlocked my door to see Maliyah on Caesar's bed, watching our TV. I threw my backpack on my bed. "Hey Mali," I greeted. She threw a peace sign back at me. "Where's Caesar?" I asked.

"Went to go talk to Tia. Officially off."

I grunted in response. They played this game way too often for me to get interested in their relationship. I took the news with a grain of salt and sat down on my bed.

"Do you know if Ceez wants to tell me something?" I asked Maliyah. She looked confusedly at me. "I ran into Hiro and he asked me if Caesar talked to me yet."

"Probably wants to ask you about the party that's going on tonight," she answered without even glancing in my direction. "He wants you to go for some reason."

I raised an eyebrow. Why the hell would he want me to go a party? Me, of all people. I only went to parties on rare occasions and even then I didn't stay for long.

"He can forget about it then," I answered, grabbing a book from the desk. I turned to the dog-eared page. "I'm not going out tonight."

The front door unlocked and Caesar walked in. He looked at Maliyah and I staring at him. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Look, here's your chance to tell him now," Maliyah said to me.

"Tell me what?" Caesar inquired as he sat down in his desk chair. He looked at me. "Tell me what?" he repeated with more venom, now wanting to know what was going on between them.

"I'm not going to whatever party you're planning on dragging me to," I answered swiftly.

"What part—"

"I already told him Ceez," Maliyah interrupted. Caesar pushed her in her shoulder. "What? You should be mad at Hiro! He was the first one to fuck up and say something!"

"I thought we _agreed_ to wait until _I_ told him and eased him into it!"

"Tell that to Hiro!"

" _What_ are you three scheming?" I was tired of listening to them argue about whatever they were bickering about; I needed to find out what the hell was happening. They stared at me as if I had two heads. Maybe they didn't hear me the first time. "What are you guys trying to do?"

Caesar looked at Maliyah, then back at me. "We were… just trying to get you to come out…" he answered sheepishly. "You know, it's been a while…" I rolled my eyes and went back to my book. "Come on, Huey everybody knows you haven't gone out since Celeste."

I wondered why Caesar brought up Celeste. It wasn't like I went out to parties while I was with her. In fact, I probably stayed in more. I never liked going out, and Celeste just gave me a reason to say no.

But she wasn't here anymore. My reason was gone.

Now, Caesar felt a need to help me get over her. I wasn't moping over her, crying myself to sleep over the loss. I kept going, as did she, with my life. I was fine: with or without her. But he still felt a need.

Maliyah smacked Caesar's arm. "Don't be rude," she muttered at him. She looked at me with sad eyes. Does she feel sorry for me? "Huey, we just want what's best for you. And we think it'll be best if you went out with us."

"What?"

"Come on man, it'll be fun if you came out with us!" he offered, trying to convince me to out with them. I stared at him and gave him a harder scowl. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No."

I didn't what he said nor did I care about what he was gonna say; there was no chance in hell was going to convince me to leave this dorm room. A party was just another excuse for dumb niggas to drink and get dumber and slutty girls to get sluttier. I didn't want to have any part in that.

"Come on, Huey!" Maliyah whined.

"No."

Caesar threw his hands in the air in defeat. Maliyah huffed with a pout on her face. I didn't care about how they felt. Celeste wasn't the cause of any of my problems and I didn't need to "go out" to forget about her.

I ignored them and went back to my book. "I'm fine with staying here for the night," I announced while I turned a page. "You guys can go out if you want to."

"But we wanna go with _you_ ," Maliyah whined again.

"Let me think about it. No," I replied without taking a breath. I needed to work on my research paper for Early American Law that was due on Tuesday. I didn't have time to deal with idiotic college students. "Now, unless you want to do my homework for me, I have work to do."

"But you could meet the girl of your dreams at this party!"

I stopped reading my page. I briefly thought about the girl from earlier today, Jazmine. It was a long shot that I would even see her there. But maybe I could get something out of it. I sat up in my bed and looked at both of them. "I only want to go for an hour," I offered.

They both looked at me, looked at each other, then looked back at me. They were always on a brother-sister wavelength and it never ceased to freak me out.

"That's fine," Caesar smiled.

"And," I added, swinging my legs over the bed to where my feet were touching the ground. "You two niggas can't bother me for the rest of the time while I'm finishing my paper. So until Tuesday, I don't hear from you guys."

"Deal," Maliyah said.

"It's a small party with some people from the soccer team. Nothing big," Caesar explained to me. I shrugged. "I'm gonna make sure you stay for the full hour. Imma have spies watching you and shit."

I rolled my eyes at him.

Even though I had to make a deal with the both of them to get them to stop bothering me, I had to admit it was a little nice to finally get out of the dorm room. I usually never left the room except for classes and work.

"You gotta tell Hiro that we actually succeeded," Maliyah laughed to Caesar.

I shrugged them both off. When I wanted to, I could actually be fun.

* * *

I hated parties.

As I'm walking with Maliyah and Caesar to the sight of the party, I wondered if the deal was really worth it. College Park was still a little warm at nights, so my choice of a black hoodie wasn't the best choice of clothing. I was only going to be here for an hour so I didn't care entirely too much.

"Alright Mali, I don't want to get all crazy and shit. This is your first college party and I want you to be safe," Caesar explained sweetly to his little sister. "I don't wanna have to fight a nigga tonight."

"Who said this was my first college party?" she answered with a snort, walking ahead of us into the packed house.

Caesar looked over at me. "What the hell?" he snapped. "What did she just say?"

"You have to think: she did hang out with my brother all the time," I smirked. He tried to smack me in my arm, but I moved out of the way. "I'm just stating facts!"

"Yo, forreal I don't wanna hear about Mali and your brother," he shot back, leading me into the party. He shivered a little bit. "It freaks me the fuck out just thinking about it."

We both walked into the party, and immediately Caesar was in his natural habitat. "Party!" he yelled out, making everyone around cheer in response.  
I rolled my eyes at Caesar's outburst. There were way too many people in this confined space, it reeked of alcohol and sweat, and I'm pretty sure two people were already passed out in the corner. I shook my head. Niggas.

"The hour starts now!" I yelled at him, pointing at my watch in case he couldn't hear me over the loud music.

He nodded his head to let me know he understood me. Someone bumped into me, and I turned around quickly to see who it was. They were gone when I turned around and when I faced forward again, so was Caesar. I sighed loudly. He'd already abandoned me to go party. I didn't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that.

I had fifty five minutes to go.

I leaned against the wall, looking towards the entire living room. I mentally counted down the minutes. I promised sixty minutes, and so far it had been seven. I glanced over my shoulder to see Caesar talking to a girl. He probably wouldn't know if I decided to leave a few minutes early.

I was a man of my word, though, so I was going to endure about fifty more minutes of this… whatever this was to get my Caesar and Maliyah free weekend.

I watched all the people that were in front of me. There was a white girl trying to twerk, two people making out in the middle of the floor and an overly excited frat boy was who jumping around everywhere offbeat with the music.

This was ridiculous; I didn't belong here. I looked down at my watch. Forty minutes.

I had been to one of Caesar's soccer teammates party before. Last year, me and Celeste sat on one of the couches and talked about every white person that passed our way. We didn't care who heard us because we were practically dragged here by Caesar so he could get friendly with all the upperclassmen soccer players.

Now I was by myself.

I looked back down at my watch to see that I had about thirty minutes left. Time was moving by slow because I was alone and I wasn't having fun. I went to go walk outside and get some fresh air. I leaned against the railing of the front porch. I pulled out my phone and unlocked it quickly. I hovered my thumb over her name. I looked up for a second before looking down again, but I needed to do a double take.

 _Oh my God, it's her._

She was walking from the side of the house. I assumed she just came from the backyard.

I felt my whole body stiffen. I had a brief thought that I would see her at the party, but I'd never assumed that I'd actually see her here.

"Cindy!" she called out.

The only other person outside was me, but she hadn't seen me yet.

She walked from the side of the house and over in the front lawn, looking around the darkness of the outside for her friend. She locked eyes with me. Her face was searching as if she was trying to figure out where she knew me from. She snapped her fingers. "Huey. From Mini-Walmart."

"Yeah," I nodded.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen Cindy walked by here, would you?" she asked me. "Short white girl, blonde hair, wearing a skimpy dress?" I shook my head no. "Darn, she was supposed to take me back to the dorm. But I can't find her anywhere."

My mouth felt dry. As if I was about to say something stupid and I couldn't stop myself. My mouth worked before my brain could process it. "I could walk you to your dorm," I blurted out. I stopped and looked down at the ground. Why the hell did I say that?

She stared at me, and then she laughed at me. "No offense Huey, but I don't really know you that well."

She had a point she had only met me a few hours earlier and I was hastily asking to take her home. If I was her, I would be skeptical about the situation too. I nodded my head. I understood where she was coming from.

"Yeah, sorry. That was a stupid solution," I recovered.

She smiled at me and looked up at the sky. "But, I am wearing cutoff shorts and a muscle tee that makes me very vulnerable," she started. I raised an eyebrow at her. "You seem better than the guys in there. And I don't want to walk alone. There are bad people out there." She walked up to me. "Okay, you can walk me home. But don't try anything!" she said as she walked forward.

"I'll keep my hands in my pocket then," I offered as I moved up next to her.

We walked to her dorm in silence. She was texting furiously on her phone while I was just enjoying the outdoors. The University of Maryland campus looked really nice at night, with all of the light illuminating the old buildings. I appreciated the beauty of the campus, even when others really didn't.

"Do you even remember my name?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Jazmine," I replied a little too quickly. She didn't seemed to notice.

She started to skip around as we continued to the other side of the campus. "I know this is weird, but can we stop by the McDonald's by campus? I am _starving_."

It was weird but I shrugged in response. "It's whatever to me," I replied. We made a quick left and hurried crossed the streets of incoming traffic to get to the fast food restaurant across the street from campus.

I followed behind her as she made her way to the register. She looked at the menu for a while. "Can I have a… um…" she started, looking over all her choices. "I think I just have a medium fries and a Oreo Mcflurry."

The cashier told her the total but I pulled out my wallet and handed her a five before Jazmine could say anything.

"You didn't have to do that," she reminded me. "I could've paid for it myself."

I shrugged again as I got my change. "You can just pay me back," I weakly responded, walking to a table. She grabbed her "meal" and followed right behind me. She looked mad when she sat down. "What?"

"Why did you do that?" she hotly questioned.

"Jazmine, it's fine. It's a three dollar meal," I shot back. I leaned against the hard booth chair. "It's nothing serious."

"Is this a date?"

I smirked slightly at that. "I can treat you to a better date than McDonald's," I smoothly answered. She smiled at me.

"Well, one time my ex-boyfriend thought a nice date for two year anniversary was Taco Bell," she confided. She shoved a spoonful of the ice cream in her mouth. "He went out with his friends and got high and when it came time to take me on a date, he _really_ want some hard shelled tacos and he _really_ could go for some right about then."

She laughed a little at her story, so I laughed a little too. That had to be the worst date I'd ever heard of.

"But, this isn't really a date so it doesn't count," she added on. She looked at phone and started to text with one hand. "Cindy just texted me back. She said her phone was on silent so she couldn't hear me calling her. Can you believe her?"

I didn't know what to say. I shrugged.

"I told her I'm already home. Had to lie a little bit," she said. She took another spoonful of her Mcflurry. "Oh, by the way, did you ask your boss about the job?"

I nodded. "I have to give you an interview on Monday," I told her.

"Give it to me right now."

My eyebrow arched. "I'm sorry?"

She put down her McFlurry and wiped her mouth. She looked at me. "We're here right now. You can give me the interview and not have to wait." She smiled widely. "I'm ready."

"I'm not going to give you an interview inside a McDonald's," I objected. She pouted slightly. "It's after midnight and we both just came from a party. Do you really think this is the best time for an interview?"

"Come on, Huey," she whined. "I'm gonna be really nervous on Monday and I just want to get it over with."

"You're persistent about this."

"You should add that in the interview," she quipped. I smirked. "See? I'm warming up to you already. You should just go ahead and give me the job."

I folded my arms across my chest. I was going to play along with her little game. "Okay… what makes you qualified to work at Mini-Walmart?"

"I'm a hard-worker, I'm friendly, and I'll take on any task that you'll give me," she answered smoothly. "I did a lot of volunteer work at Goodwill and places like that, so I know how a retail environment works."

"Did you plan all this out?" I inquired. "That was a really good answer."

She smiled and shook her head. "Come on, ask me more questions!" she commanded. "I want to get this job!"

"You're hired," I replied.

Her eyes widened. "You didn't even give me a good interview!" I shrugged and looked down at my watch. We have been here for about half an hour. She lowered then lowered her eyes at me. "Who put you up to this? Do you know who I am?"

"What?" I said. "Am I supposed to know who you are?" I've never seen her before today. Was she someone popular or something? "I just want to give you the job because you know you're more than qualified and I sort of hate my co-worker so hopefully you'll replace him."

"Oh." She finished her food in quietness, her cheeks inflamed in embarrassment. "I'm ready to go," she announced after a slightly uncomfortable silence.

We both walked out of the restaurant and made our way to her dorm hall. The once bouncy girl was reserved to herself. "You okay?" I finally asked.

"Yeah, except for the fact that I made myself looked dumb," she snorted. "I don't know why you would have hired me for other reasons."

I wanted her to indulge on what she meant by that, but I decided not to push it. It wasn't my business anyways, and if she wanted to tell me, she would've already explained herself. Instead, I just nodded my head.

She led the way until we arrived at one of the apartment complexes right across the street from campus. It was one of the more expensive places to live around campus. I stared at her. Who was she?

She turned to face when we walked around to the building where her apartment was located. "Thanks for offering to take me home Huey," she noted. "And buying my dinner. Even though you didn't have to do that."

"It's no big deal," I retorted.

She gave me a hug and walked up the steps to her apartment, before turned back around. "What time should I come on Monday?" she asked.

"I still need to talk to Will— my boss first," I told her. She walked back to me. "I have to see if he wants to interview you too or whatever." Jazmine pulled a marker out of back pocket and grabbed my arm. "Why do you have a Sharpie with you?"

"So I can give guys my number," she replied with no haste.

"Do you give out your number often?"

She finished writing on my wrist and looked up at me. "Only to the ones I deem worthy of my number," she smirked. I cleared my throat."Text me all the details when you get them, kay?" I nodded as she went up to her apartment.

I felt a little bit special walking back to my dorm.


	2. It Was a Good Day

_**A/N:** Wassup lovelies! I'm gonna keep it short because for once, I don't have to apologize for the lateness! For all my peeps who been riding with me for a minute y'all already know what I'm gonna say. But for all the newbies around, here's my Trademarked Author Note Ending: Go read **Pursuit of Happiness** , go read **Redemption** , and don't forget to **Read &Review!**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter Two: It Was a Good Day**_

How many times was I going to change my outfit before work? Too many times, apparently.

I groaned and threw the clothes off of my body. I had all these freaking clothes in my closet and none of them were doing the trick. I stood in my bra and panties in front of my almost empty closet. Even though Huey told me that the job didn't really have a dress code and if I wanted to I could come in sweats, I still had to look my best. I had an image to uphold.

"What are you doing?" Cindy questioned as she walked into my messy room. "Jesus it's like Forever 21 threw up in here."

"I'm trying to find something to wear for work," I distractedly told her. I pulled out a floral dress from the back. I slipped it on. It was a little tight, but I still looked great in it. Perfect.

"Are you still on that working shit? I thought you were just joking about that," she admitted. "I didn't know you were actually serious."

I sprayed my body mist on me. "Why would I be joking about it?"

"Maybe because you have money and it's not like you need a job." I rolled my eyes and continued to get ready for my first day of work. I needed to make a good impression on my new boss and my co-workers. "You sure are dressed nicely to be going to _work_ ," she spat with venom.

"I'm always dressed nicely."

"This isn't because you have a crush on the dude with an afro that works there, is it?" she inquired. My face started to warm up. I waved her off as I grabbed my things. "Holy shit, it totally is, isn't it?"

"Bye Cindy," I dismissed as I left the apartment. I didn't have to explain myself to her and wasn't going to start today. I started my walk towards Mini-Walmart, which was almost three blocks away from my apartment complex. I was excited to start work because for once in my life, I felt independent. I didn't have to adhere to other people's ideas of me. I was excited to get my first paycheck. It was a check of freedom.

I walked through the front doors of the store. The first person I saw was Huey, who was standing behind the counter. He was ringing up a customer when he looked up at me, but then he had to do a double take. I smiled. The dress was a good fit.

The boss came from his office and went up to Huey. They talked for a few seconds before Huey pointed in my direction. The boss looked over at me before turning back to Huey. I pushed a curl behind my ear. I was feeling pretty nervous about the entire experience. This was the first time he's seen me and I was already an employee here.

This was a weird situation, indeed.

The boss started to come my way. He was a tall, middle-aged white man with a huge smile on his face. I immediately loosened up.

"Hey, I'm Will," he greeted, holding his hand out for me to shake. I eagerly did. I followed him towards the middle of the store. "So, Huey gave you an impromptu interview I heard. Hired you on the spot."

"She was the one who wanted the interview," Huey intervened.

Will looked back at me. "Personally, I think he hired you for your good looks, but that's not for me to judge." Huey's face redden and I started to laugh. "But anyways, let's get you through training real quick."

We turned to face the entire store. "This is the floor. It's pretty much wherever there is merchandise that is out for the customer is the floor. Now usually you'll be behind the counter, but every so often Huey may ask you to go check the floor and see if everything's okay. Got it?"

I nodded in response.

We turned to face Huey again. "This is the customer service, or where the cash register is. This is pretty much where you'll be most of the time. Huey will teach you how do all of that stuff later, but right now we're gonna move on to other things."

We walked to the back of the store. "This is the back of the store, where we keep all the extra stuff. Nine times out of ten, we have nothing here in the back. If someone asks if we have something in the back, walk back here for about twenty seconds and then go back to them and say we don't have any in stock." We continued on the tour of the store but I was confused. Did stores not keep stuff in the back?

He showed me where the break room where I could clock in everyday. I clocked in for the first time. I smiled at my boss. "You're already learning."

We made it back to the cash registers. Will gave Huey a big stack of papers. "Make sure she signs these," Will told him. "I hope you have a good first day, Jazmine," he said as he walked back into his office.

I went behind the counter next to Huey. "So..."

"So…" he repeated as he folded clothes. He looked at me out of the side of his eye.

"Aren't you going to make me do something productive?" I asked, standing awkwardly behind the cash register. "Are you going to make me work at my job?"

He put the clothes he just folded in front of me. "You can go put these up," he instructed. "Then I'll tell you more about the job."

I grabbed the clothes and went over to the apparel section. I set the clothes down on the table according to their color. When I turned around, I was face to face with a guy. I gasped.

"Hey cutie," he started, licking his lips. I winced in disgust. "Why are you putting those clothes up? Let a real man with a job do that for you." I was backed up against the table full of clothes.

"I work here!" I stuttered out. It confused him. "Hi, I'm Jazmine." I stuck out my hand.

"What the hell are you doing?" Huey yelled from the counter. "Nick, stop bothering Jazmine and get back to work!"

Nick went to the counter. "She works here?" he questioned.

Huey rolled his eyes. He clenched his teeth together. "Yes, you asshole! If you were here on time, you would know that!" Nick raised his hands in protest before going to a different part of the store. "Fucking prick," he muttered under his breath. I walked back to Huey. "You okay?"

I nodded, but I was still shook up.

"Just ignore him; hopefully he'll get fired soon," he assured me. I laughed a bit. I saw a customer coming up to the counter. "Here, let me show you how to work the register."

He went through all the steps of scanning items and how to take the security tags off of clothing. He showed with buttons to press for cash and which ones were for a credit card. He taught me so effortlessly, I was sure that he had to do this before. He even let me ring up the next person.

"You got this," he guaranteed.

"Thanks, I had a good teacher."

I worked behind the counter until our shifts were up. The relief came in five minutes early so me and Huey were right out the door at the top of the hour.

"Hungry?" he asked as we passed by the Student Union. I nodded as we were walking into the building. We split up to get our food: Huey went into the Healthy Choices line while I made my way to get a chicken sandwich.

My phone started to ring when I was in the line. I froze. My dad was calling me while I was out with a guy he didn't know. And Huey was walking back to me. I panicked. I turned off my phone entirely and shoved it back into my pocket.

We met up again at the register to pay for our food. I tried to buy our meals separately, but Huey insisted they be together.

"No, you're not gonna pay for me again," I protested, smacking his hand when he wanted to give the cashier his school ID. "I'm serious!"

"Jazmine you're holding up the line," he retorted as he went around me to pay for the food. I groaned in frustration. He was pissing me off with this "paying for me" thing he was doing.

"Fine, I owe you," I announced. He shrugged me off. "Next time we go out, I pay."

"Okay," he answered.

We sat down at one of the clean tables in the cafeteria. I glared at him. He raised an eyebrow. "I'm gonna pay for you," I repeated. He nodded. "I'm serious."

"I know you are."

I started to eat, even though I was still slightly angry at him. I looked over at his meal. "That doesn't have any meat in it," I noticed.

"I'm a vegetarian."

"Oh." I felt as if I knew nothing about him, because… well, I didn't know anything about this dude. I didn't even know his last name. I've been on two "non-dates" with this person and I couldn't tell you more than three facts about him.

My father would have a heart attack.

"I don't know anything about you!" I blurted out. That came out blunter than I expected. I could feel my face warm up. "It's just… you're paying for my food or whatever, but I know nothing about you. I don't even know your last name."

"Freeman." He sat down his fork and swallowed his food. "Alright, what do you want to know?" he asked. I shrugged sheepishly. "You were the one who asked!"

"You put me out on the spot!" I defended. He sighed hard and shook his head. "Give me a second. Okay, how old are you?"

"Twenty."

"Where are you from?"

"Chicago. I moved to Woodcrest when I was ten." I wanted to ask him why he had to move, but I knew I would be overstepping my boundaries. "I was third in my class, came here, and I'm a pre-law major."

"And you're a vegetarian," I quipped.

"And I'm a vegetarian," he added with a smirk. He continued to eat. "So what about you? You're just as mysterious as me."

"Um… I'm nineteen, I used to live New Orleans a long time ago, and then we moved to Baltimore. I was second in my class and I'm a pre-med major," I explained. That seemed like enough information. I smiled again. "Now we're on a date."

"What?"

"I mean, that's what people do on a date, right?" I offered. "They talk about themselves and get to know each other. Plus you paid for me, so…"

"This is a cheap date," he acknowledged as he finished his salad.

I flipped my hair and feigned sadness. "I know," I pouted. "I deserve better than the cafeteria in the Student Union. I'm a classy girl; I want a better date next time." He grunted as a response. "Is that a yes?"

"It's whatever you want it to be," he replied. We got up and walked towards the exit. "Let me walk you home," he offered. I laughed. "What?"

"Now this really is a date," I joked. He shook his head and walked in the direction of my apartment. I quickly followed behind him. "You know I'm just kidding!"

We walked together to my complex as I finally made my way next to him. "Can I touch your afro?" I questioned, my hand already reaching to the dark brown cotton ball on the top of his head.

"Just touch your own hair," he retorted.

I tried to cover my frizzy hair. "I don't have an afro!" I shouted back. "It's just really humid outside and it gets puffy!" I defended.

"First of all, Mariah, your afro is bigger than mine." I crossed my arms and stuck out my bottom lip. He looked over at me. "That can't be your first time hearing that."

"You're mean," I whined.

"I'm sorry," he responded.

"You know, I don't think you really are."

He shrugged. "You're right; I'm not."

We continued to walk until we were right in front of my apartment door. "Thank you for taking me home… again. You're like my personal bodyguard," I pointed out. He shrugged. He was always so nonchalant about everything. "I just want to let you know—" Cindy swung the door open, staring at both of us.

"Your dad is on the phone."

 _Daddy_.

"Uh, I'll talk to you later Huey. Bye!" I cut the conversation short while I walked into my apartment. Before he could say anything to me, I slammed the door in his face. I winced. That may have not been the best idea. Nevertheless, I answered the phone calmly. "Hi Daddy!" I smoothly greeted.

" _Why was your phone off?_ " he yelled into the receiver. I sighed to myself; my dad could be so overdramatic. " _I tried calling you several times! It went straight to voicemail!_ "

"My phone died," I explained. It may have been a lie, but it was an extremely plausible lie. "I can't talk to you if I have a dead phone, Daddy."

" _What were you doing that made your phone die?_ "

I went to my room and closed the door behind me. "Remember when you said you weren't going to be as controlling as you were last year?" I subtly hinted. "I'm just wondering if you're still trying to do that."

" _I'm just making sure that you're okay, sweetheart!_ " he confided. " _You're just so far away that I have to make sure that you're safe at all times._ "

"Thanks Dad," I said flatly.

" _You know there is just so many…_ " I put the phone down and got out of my dress and into a t-shirt and shorts. I knew he was going to say some irrelevant stuff, so I had time to tune him out. I finally put the phone back to my ear. " _…And that's why I do the things I do. To protect you._ "

"Thanks Dad, listen I have to go," I said quickly, trying to get him off the phone.

" _Wait!_ " he stopped. " _Listen, next month your mother is hosting her annual gala, so you know you have to be here so we can take a few photos, and talk about being a happy family. I'll send a car for you on that day._ "

"Got it."

" _And also—_ "

"Okay, I love you, bye-bye!" I hung up the phone before anymore talking could happen.

Thank God that was over.

I went to return Cindy's phone to her. She was sitting on the couch watching The Real Housewives of whatever, I wasn't paying attention. "You didn't tell him anything, did you?" I asked her before giving her back her phone.

"No. Not my business," she responded. She got her phone. "But eventually he's gonna find out and he's gonna be really pissed off."

I shrugged in response. My dad had been controlling my life for as long as I could remember. I was almost twenty, and I was doing this I wanted to do. I had a touch of being independent and it felt good.

I couldn't wait to feel this all the time.

* * *

I yawned for what felt like the millionth time. I had been up studying for my stupid economics test and I still felt like I didn't retain anything. I rested my head in my hands; I was losing sleep and still was doomed.

"Sleeping on the job? Already?"

I rolled my eyes at Huey when I handed him some of the clothes behind the counter. "It's my stupid Econ class. This test makes me wanna crawl into a hole forever."

"You graduate top of your class… and you're not good at economics?" he questioned me. I glared at him from the side of my eye. "Not judging but…"

I sat up. "I went to a school where we only took classes that relate to what we wanted to do in college. So… I only took math and science classes," I explained. "I'm really good at those… but economics is my Kryptonite."

"Well… I got an A in the class…" he mentioned. My eyes widened. "I can help you out if you want."

I wanted to jump over the counter and give him a hug. "Oh my gosh! Huey thank you so much! Really I definitely owe you if I pass this test."

"If?"

"I don't know if you're a good teacher or not," I replied with a shrug. He rolled his eyes. "We can go to the library after work. I have all my stuff I my bag."

Our shift went by pretty quick and before I realized it, it was time for our study session. We walked across campus and I let him pick a spot while I grabbed a Red Bull from the vending machine. I was determined to learn my Econ stuff, even if it took all night.

"Okay, what do you need help with?" he asked when I finally made it to the booth where he was sitting.

I sat my backpack into the table. "Just about… everything."

"What's everything?" He raised an eyebrow at me. I sunk in my seat lower. "That bad? Did you take any tests or quizzes already so we can go over those?"

I groaned and put my head on the table. "Yeah… but I don't think it will help. I did _really_ bad on it." I brought my head back up and ran my fingers through my hair as I took out some of my books and spirals.

"How bad?" I stayed quiet while I flipped through my economics book. "Jazmine?"

"I got a 28." He blinked at my response. "See? I suck at economics! My dad is gonna kill me!"

He shrugged. "Everybody's bad at something."

"You don't know my dad; I'm not _allowed_ to be bad at anything." I retorted when I pulled out my MacBook. "Now you see how I'm desperate I am."

"That's okay," he answered in a softer voice. "We're gonna work on it. Now show me the last quizzes you had."

"You're not gonna think I'm stupid?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "You graduated salutatorian of your school. I think you're pretty damn smart."

I felt my cheeks getting hot before I got out the papers from class. While I was eternally grateful he offered to help me, I was even happier to be spending time with him. He made me feel special, like he was _trying_ to be nice to me. I'd seen how he was towards other people, especially Nick. Nice wasn't a strong suit of his. The way he explained the answers I got wrong—

Shoot! I hadn't heard a thing he said!

"Do you understand now?" he asked when he finished. I guess the look on my face was pure despair because he added: "If you want me to explain it again, I will."

"Please?"

Huey didn't huff or groan or anything like that, he just simply flipped back to the front of my quiz and started to go over the questions I missed again.

To be honest, I was shook.

He was one of the best tutors I ever had. He didn't get annoyed when I asked a million questions, or when I kept getting the same concepts mixed up. He was actually being patient with me.

"Okay think about it this way: if Beyoncé made an album and one single physical copy it, how do you think supply and demand is affected?" he asked me.

"Demand is high, but supply is low," I replied.

"And if Bow Wow puts out an album?"

"Then supply is high and demand is low," I answered. I tapped on my chin. "And equilibrium is when demand and supply are equal to each other."

He gave me a small smirk. "You sure you needed my help?"

"Huey… those are the simplest concepts on the test… that isn't what I need help with," I giggled. "Can we move on to the harder stuff?"

"Okay we can."

I smiled to myself as he moved in a little closer to me to turn the pages of my economy book. I would never admit it to him, but I kind of liked him trying to tutor me. It was just a feeling that he was different from the other guys.

I hope I'm right.


	3. Just A Friend

_**A/N:** ok it's 2:30 am and I have to be at work in about 4 hours so I'm gonna make this quick af: Buy me a ko-fi if you like me and don't forget to **Read &Review!**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter Three: Just A Friend**_

"Thank you, have a great day!"

She was way more enthusiastic than I was, especially when I had to work a late shift covering for someone else. A.K.A Nick.

"Hi Huey!" she greeted warmly as I walked to the break room. I waved back at her. She was always so bubbly while working. I clocked in and went back to the register. "How was your day?" she asked while ringing up somebody.

"Fine," I replied. "It's getting better. I still have to work unlike you, who gets off in a couple of hours."

"Well, I had to work five hours, so it didn't come without a price." She leaned against the counter to face me. "Why are you working so late, anyway?"

"Covering for Nick. He wanted to switch shifts with me so he could go out tonight." She covered her face to keep from laughing. "He didn't show up, didn't he?" I sighed.

"Well he did for like an hour," she answered with a shrug. I rolled my eyes. Even when you give Nick a chance, he'll still fuck everything up. "Speaking of Nick…"

He walked through the front door with a drink in his hand. He waved at me and Jazmine. "Yo, I didn't know your shift started this early. Does this mean I can finally clock out?"

"Nick you better be glad I need the money or otherwise I would've walked out," I told him. He shrugged and went to walk around the store. "Sometimes, I swear to God…"

Jazmine turned and looked at me. "I would've thought you and your friends would be going out on a Saturday night like this." I scoffed at her statement. "What? You went out when you met me," she reminded.

"That was an anomaly," I retorted. "I don't usually go out."

"Why?"

"I hate parties." A customer came up to the register and Jazmine took him. "Parties are just reasons for people to act more ignorant than normal," I said.

"That's a stupid reason," she laughed.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Because not everyone at parties is ignorant," she explained. She turned to face me again after she was finished with the customer. "I've actually met some really nice people at parties and they aren't ignorant. I go to parties; does that make me ignorant?"

Now she was twisting my words around. I sighed because I knew I wasn't going to win this argument. "You're not ignorant."

"And you met me at a party."

"Technically I met you here first."

She scrunched up her face. "Shut up," she remarked. "It doesn't matter because Cindy went home for the weekend and now I'm all by myself in my apartment and I _hate_ being there all weekend alone."

I leaned against the counter. "Well… I think my roommate wants to go to the football game on Saturday night with some of our friends. You want to come with us?"

Her eyes lit up. How have I never noticed how green they were before? "Of course I wanna go with y'all! You guys should come over to the apartment first!" she excitedly offered.

"I mean…" I was a little skeptical of having Caesar and Maliyah's rowdy asses over her apartment. They were loud and noisy regularly, but they were even worse on game days because they were more than likely going to be drunk.

"Oh, come on! We can chill out before the game and I could meet your friends! Plus, my apartment is pretty roomy without Cindy. It'll be awesome."

She already had convinced me; it was just a matter of convincing the others to go along with it. "I'll ask them when I get back to the dorm."

Jazmine's relief came in, so she walked from behind the counter. She quickly went to the break room to clock out and came back with a jacket. "Make sure you ask!" she reminded me as she walked out of the building.

I rolled my eyes; she was very persistent about things.

Nick came up to the register and leaned against the counter in front of me. "She's hot. Do you think I should go for it or not?" I glared at him from the side of my eye. "What? Did you already call dibs?"

I pushed him away from me. "She's not a piece of meat, you dick," I informed him. "Besides, she could do way better than your sorry ass."

"What? Like you? You haven't been with a girl since Celeste and that was what? Like five months ago?" I rolled my eyes and started to ignore him. "You know I'm right."

"Go be productive, you lazy rat."

* * *

 _ **Jazmine:**_ _Did you ask yet?_

 _ **Me:**_ _No not yet._

 _ **Jazmine:**_ _Well hurry up and ask already!_

I was sitting in my car the next day when the last text came through my phone. I had to damn near promise her that I would at least bring up the conversation with Maliyah. I was waiting on her to come out of her dorm so I could finally make the hour drive back to Woodcrest. The laundry rooms weren't free so whenever I had a free afternoon I took the time to go back home and wash my clothes.

And I guess to see Aunt Cookie and Riley also.

Maliyah finally came out of her dorm with a backpack on her shoulder. She threw her bag in the back after jumping into. "You know we're only gonna be there for a couple of hours, right?" I commented.

"I know," she replied.

"So… what's with the bag?"

Maliyah smiled at me. "Huey… it's none of your business." I rolled my eyes as I backed out of the parking lot. "You didn't tell Michael, did you? That I was going with you?"

"I never do."

"Good."

"But eventually you're gonna have to tell him yourself."

She shot me a salty look and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't have to tell him anything," she answered. There was a moment of silence before she started again. "Michael wouldn't even understand!" Another beat. "And it's not like we're even dating!"

"Okay, I get it!" I griped. "Damn forget I asked." I started to pull out of the parking lot when I could hear my phone vibrate again. Probably Jazmine again; she was going to be the death of me. Guess this was as good as any time to say something. "Hey so… what are we doing before the game on Saturday?"

Maliyah looked up from her phone before thinking about it. "As far as I know nothing. Why wassup?"

I scratched the back of my head. "Well… one of my coworkers wants to go to the game with us and she invited us to her apartment to hang out before it starts."

"Is it Nick? Because I heard that last time he got too drunk and passed out before kickoff," she snickered. "Plus, that nigga gets a little handsy when he's drunk and I _swear_ if I gotta hit that nigga in his mouth again…"

"No, it's not Nick," I replied, shuddering at the thought of hanging out with Nick outside of work again. "This is another coworker."

"You guys got more than two workers?" she laughed. "What's his name?"

"Her name is Jazmine."

" _Her_?" Before I could tell her not to look too deep into it, she was already squealing. "You're talking to another girl? Finally! And her name is Jazmine? Is she cute?"

"Maliyah… we're just friends."

"What like… me and Riley friends?" I rolled my eyes. "Okay, so you don't know you like her yet. How did you meet her?"

I sighed. "As I said, she's a coworker, so I met her at work." Wasn't totally a lie; technically I did meet her at work. I could tell she was studying my face, seeing if I was telling the truth. "What's with the third degree? I can't have friends that are girls?"

She paused for a second. "No!" I sucked my teeth. "You don't like people! So you having friends that you haven't known for years is a big thing."

"Whatever."

"Besides, I think it'll be nice to get so more girls in the group. No shade but all this testosterone in the crew is not the wave."

"What about Tia?" She grunted in response. "Fair point. But don't let this get out of proportion when you tell everyone else. We're just friends," I reiterated.

"If you say so."

Forty-five minutes passed before we made it to my house. Maliyah jumped out of the car and bee-lined to the house. I shook my head. What was it about Riley that got girls sprung like that?

Never mind, I don't really want to know.

I grabbed my clothes from the backseat and made my way to the basement. Aunt Cookie was out doing something with the church and probably wouldn't be back before I finished. It was best because I liked being alone.

One load of clothes were in the washer as I started working on my copyright law paper. This is when I am at my peak: headphones in, book in front of me, closed off against the world. I liked being around my friends but I needed time to recharge.

 _ **Jazmine would like to FaceTime.**_

I raised an eyebrow and reluctantly answered the call. She was just coming out of Tydings Hall, which meant her economics class just ended.

" _Hi Huey! I really didn't expect you to answer!_ " she greeted as she walked out of the building.

"Why wouldn't I?"

She shrugged. " _Well, you don't really seem like the FaceTiming type._ "

I wasn't. I put the phone down face up as I went back to my paper. "Is there a reason why you called?"

Jazmine sucked her teeth and sighed. " _Jeez. I can't even call to say hello?_ " I grunted. " _So anyways… you know how we stayed up_ _ **forever**_ _to work on Econ that one time and I still got a 54, which was still bad but better so we met up again to study_?"

"Uh-huh," I answered absentmindedly.

" _Well… look at this!_ " A beat before " _Huey you actually have to look at the screen for this 'ta-da' moment to actually work!_ "

I picked up the phone to see Jazmine's latest economics test, branded with a red 82 at the top. "A low B. Nice."

" _I know right?_ " she squealed. " _And not to mention with all the extra credit I've been doing, which I had to basically beg for, I went from an F to a mid-C which means I'm finally passing!_ "

A small smirk appeared. I couldn't help but actually feel proud that our studying was really working. "Well, at least your dad isn't going to kill you now."

" _I know! I owe you big time for it too._ "

The washing machine finally buzzed for the end of the load. I unplugged my earphones as I got up to change the washer. "So I talked to one of my friends about Saturday…"

" _Uh-huh…"_

Before I could tell her, Maliyah came stomping down the stairs. She rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Riley wants to know if you can go get some food because Aunt Cookie said that she was gonna be late coming home."

I scowled. "He has money; tell him to get something delivered."

" _Who is that?_ "

Maliyah turned towards my phone. "Who is that?" she questioned.

"No one!" I yelled towards the phone. "No one," I repeated in Maliyah's direction. She raised her eyebrow as she walked towards my phone. "Maliyah."

She grabbed my phone from the table and jumped onto the couch. "Who are you talking to, Mr. Freeman?" she teasingly questioned.

"Maliyah!"

" _Uhh… my name is Jazmine!_ " she cheerfully responded. A sly smirk appeared on Maliyah's face. I groaned as I continued to do my laundry. Might as well let whatever happen happen.

She slid down on the couch and put the phone in front of her face. "Oh really? Jazmine, I've heard _a lot_ about you."

" _Oh?_ "

"Just kidding. Huey doesn't like to talk to his friends about potential baes." Silence on Jazmine's end before Maliyah burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh my God her face! Huey, I like her already!"

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" I proposed. "Somewhere that's not here?"

Maliyah rolled her eyes at my phone. "Huey thinks I'm an embarrassment and wants me to get off his phone," she complained as she walked towards me.

" _That's too bad! I think you're a nice person!_ " Jazmine replied.

"Don't encourage her!"

Maliyah handed me my phone. "See? Even your sorta-kinda-not really bae thinks I'm a nice person," she teased before going back up the stairs.

I groaned into the phone. "Sorry about that; my friends are assholes."

" _I like her! Maliyah right?_ " she questioned. I nodded. " _I think she's fun! I can't wait for Saturday to meet the rest of your friends!_ "

I was already ready for Saturday to be over.

When Maliyah and I finally made it back to campus, it was almost seven. I just got back on my floor when Jazmine had texted me what kind of food and drinks my friends liked. I responded that they were moochers and she shouldn't bother with going all out for us. That text was left on read. When I opened the door, Caesar was sitting on his bed, listening to his music. A nod in his direction as I started to put my clean clothes away.

He sat up and took off his headphones. "So?"

"So?"

"I heard you got a girl." I sighed almost immediately. I knew Maliyah couldn't be quiet for too long. "And you're talking to Jazmine? Like, curly ass hair, kinda short, really curvy and shit?"

Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "You know her?"

He smirked at me and stood up to give me dap. "Good job, my nigga!"

"What?"

"Bruh, she's like the hardest girl to get after. She's a mad flirt, but she never gets with anyone," he told me. "So wassup? Tell me what's been going on with you guys."

"Nothing," I countered. "We work together and we're just friends. She was telling me how her roommate left for the weekend and I told her we could go to the game and she wants to hang out before it starts."

"So y'all are gonna be alone? You tryna smash?"

I raised an eyebrow. "No! She invited all of us over anyways!"

"Oh," he answered. "Cool. I'll text Hiro and tell him wassup." He pulled out his phone to start texting people. "Wait. Why did you say she invited _you_ over in the first place if she invited everyone?" I shrugged. "Holy shit. You trying to fuck, aren't you?"

I rolled my eyes. "That's the stupidest reasoning ever and it's also not true," I said, defending myself. "I just slipped up."

"Yeah, slipped up and said what you wanted to do," he muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Yo, it's okay to catch feelings, Huey," he said to me. "I'm just glad you're finally getting over Celeste."

I pinched the bridge between my eyes. "Why does everything have to be about getting over Celeste?" I questioned. " I'm over her! I've moved on and she probably has too! So just drop it!"

That wasn't the best way to prove I was over her.

I sighed. "Yes, me and Celeste ended on a bad—"

"Shitty."

"—Note," I continued. "But that doesn't mean I'm still moping over her. That relationship is in the past." I leaned back on my bed. "And I'm not about to use Jazmine as a jump-off from Celeste."

"I'm just saying that you gotta watch out for girls like Jazzy," Caesar explained to me. "She the type of girl who breaks your heart silently."

I shrugged off his comment. "We're just friends," I reassured him. "I'm not going to get attached because there's nothing there between us."

"Okay..." he trailed off.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Caesar shrugged and went back to listening to his music. I didn't know what he meant by that. I texted Jazmine that we were all coming.

 _ **Jazmine:**_ _Cool! Come over at 5._

I led the way to Jazmine's apartment, with Caesar, Maliyah, and Hiro right behind me I could tell they smoked at Hiro's apartment before meeting up because all of them were acting like their high selves. Great. "So are we going to Huey's girlfriend's house?" Maliyah questioned.

"She's not my girlfriend," I corrected.

"So we're going to his not girlfriend's house?" Hiro revised. I rolled my eyes. "And why are we going to her house again?"

I made a quick right into the apartment complex that I've walked her to multiple times. "Because she invited us here," I explained.

"Us or you?" Maliyah inquired.

"Us," I reiterated. I turned to face them as we walked up the stairs leading to her apartment. "And I want you guys to act better than we usually do on Saturdays."

"No promises," they all said at the same time. I sighed and knocked on the door.

Jazmine opened the door and locked eyes with Caesar. I looked back at him and saw that he was trying to avoid eye contact. She looked back at me and gave me a huge smile "Hey! Glad you guys could come!" She waved at the others.

"This is Hiro, that's Maliyah's brother Caesar and you've unfortunately already met Maliyah," I introduced. Caesar, Maliyah, and Hiro all waved back at her.

She moved out of the way. "Come in! I have food… in the…" She didn't even get to finish her sentence before the group went straight to the kitchen. "Looks like you found it." She looked back at me. "You're the only one not wearing a school shirt."

She was wearing her own customized shirt with the sleeves cut off and it looked like she cropped it herself. Her curly hair was pulled into a messy bun on top of her head and she had the black markings under her eye. She took game days kind of seriously. I shrugged. "I'm not really into the whole school spirit thing."

"Hater," she told me when I walked into her apartment. Although I've walked her here multiple times, this was the first time I've been inside. It's decorated as much as I would expect two college girls to decorate an apartment: lots of color and lots of posters. "Do you want something to drink?" she asked me as she walked to the kitchen.

"I'm good." I sat on the couch that had three seats on it. Caesar, Maliyah, and Hiro all squeezed onto the other couch, which obviously couldn't fit all of them. "One of you guys can still over here…"

I was shushed by Maliyah. She motioned to Jazmine in the kitchen. I raised an eyebrow. They were trying to play matchmaker and suffering in the process.

"We can just switch couches," I offered.

Maliyah blinked her eyes a few times before sighing. "One day you will truly appreciate us, Huey," she declared. Jazmine sat down next to me and changed the channel to ESPN. "Yo Jazzy Fresh. I _really really really_ like that shirt you got on."

She looked down at her shirt and smiled. "Thank you!"

"You have any more of those? Like all I got is this orientation shirt and ion even like it but it was all high me could find at the moment," she explained. Maliyah put her hand up on the side of her mouth as if she was trying to whisper to Jazmine from across the room. "Don't tell Huey but we're all super high right now." Caesar smiled as he put a peace sign over his face. Hiro was too busy stuffing his face to even notice the conversation.

Jazmine giggled as she turned to look at me. I was glaring at my so-called friends. She turned back to Maliyah. "Okay I won't tell him," she assured. "I have a few shirts that I wear to games… you wanna check them out?" Maliyah nodded eagerly before following Jazmine to her room.

I turned to Hiro and Caesar. "I seriously hate you guys."

"Whatever nigga."

"Yeah, Huey lighten up!"

I shook my head as I looked away from them. I was looking around the living room until I found myself going towards Jazmine's room. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching Maliyah dance around her room. Her eyes soon noticed me and for a brief second, I was in a state of panic. She warmed to me, giving me a big smile and waving. I sheepishly waved back to her.

Maliyah finally emerged from Jazmine's room wearing her new shirt, and we were getting ready to go. Caesar, Maliyah, and Hiro were already out the door when Jazmine started to check the pockets of her shorts. "Oh shoot! I need to grab my ID real quick," she declared.

"I'll wait," I responded, leaning on the door. Another smile from her as she skipped to her room. "Yeah… sorry about my friends. They can be kind of annoying at times," I called out to her.

She shrugged as she walked out of her room. "No biggie." She put her ID in the sleeve on her phone and put her phone in the back pocket of her shorts. After she locked the front door, her lanyard went into the opposite pocket. "They're kinda cool anyways."

"You don't have to say that just because they're my friends. Don't worry; I know how terrible they are."

"I'm serious! I think they're pretty chill people." I grunted. I knew the reason why but I didn't want to tell her. "Y'all should come over for game days more often. Or just to hang out." I groaned at the thought of them embarrassing me again. "Or it can be just you, you know? It's whatever." She smiled at me.

As we made our way towards the stadium, the crowds of students in front of us started to get bigger. I knew that Caesar and them were somewhere ahead, but it was no way for me to find them. I shot him a quick text that we'd catch up to them when we got into the stadium.

"Hey Huey?" Jazmine said while we were standing in line.

"Yeah?"

"You're not gonna judge me, are you?"

"...For?"

She shrugged. "I don't know… I may get a little too… into it," she explained. I raised an eyebrow. "Just… don't be surprised."

"Okay…?"

"Oh come on!" I looked up at Jazmine to see a distressed look on her face. She, like everyone else in the student section, was standing on the bleachers watching the game. I, on the other hand, had no desire to be on my feet in the burning sun for four hours. She crouched next to me and grabbed my shoulder. "Seriously? If I see us do man coverage one more freaking time, I'll scream." She started to chew on her manicured thumb. "Their receivers keep burning our corners like… change the strategy!"

A timeout was called and all the students had the chance to sit down for a few moments. "I take it you like sports," I commented.

"It's something else to focus on that isn't school-related," she shrugged. She stood up about halfway before squatting again. "You _did_ tell Maliyah to bring up two drinks right?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I did." That was over twenty minutes ago. It was nearing the end of the fourth quarter and this game was close, so there was no way that they were still waiting in line.

Jazmine was now shouting with the rest of the student section on a crucial third down. She looked down at me. "Huey stand up!" she yelled at me in between. I rolled my eyes and complied with her request. I stood up just in time to see the quarterback throw an interception to our team. Jazmine squealed and threw her arms around me in delight. I gave a small smile; it was nice to see her having so much fun.

After the play was over, I sat back down and I could see Hiro, Caesar, and Maliyah finally come up the stairs with their hands full of snacks and sat down next to me. "Did we miss anything?" Caesar asked after he passed my drink to me.

"Only the whole fourth quarter!" Jazmine griped. She looked over to the end of the row. "Mali you have my drink?" She nodded. As Maliyah passed down the drink, Jazmine tried to reach over me to grab it but lost her footing. I instinctively dropped my drink in order to prevent her from falling onto the concrete, causing her to be in my lap.

Yikes.

Jazmine's face was almost completely red in an instant and I could feel my own cheeks start to warm up. Her emerald eyes were big as quarters as everyone around us stared.

Maliyah broke the silence. "Yo…. Jazzy you good?"

I raised my eyebrow. "You okay?" I finally asked. She nodded softly. "You sure?"

This time she sat up in my lap. "Yeah… I think I'm good." She brushed off herself before sitting next to me. "Thanks for having such good reflexes."

"Yeah, Huey is Captain Save-a-Hoe," Caesar muttered and quickly got a punch in the shoulder. "Ow! Shit, it's true though!"

"Whatever."

We celebrated the win in the stadium before heading out. Maliyah wanted to walk with us back to Jazmine's apartment but Hiro pulled her with him and Caesar. So once again, it was just the two of us walking back to her complex.

"So this was fun!" she gushed. She was skipping the entire way and smiling. "We should do this again!" She turned to me. "You wanna do this again next week?"

"Or… we can do something else," I suggested.

"Or we can do something else," she smiled. She walked up to her apartment and tapped on her chin. "Does that count as a date?"

I shook my head. "Nah, just… hanging out," I offered.

She unlocked the front door and turned to me. "Okay, Huey. We'll just hang out then." She played with the ends of the curls. "Until next time?"

I smirked. "Until next time."


	4. Calling on You

_**A/N:**_ _okay I'm gonna keep this short and sweet bc I know y'all just wanna fucking read but I do have an important thing to say: **This chapter does come with a trigger warning of attempted sexual assault.** The most triggering part (imo) blocked off by the **"00000"** but the end of the chapter does deal with the emotional aspect after the attack. Lovebugs, if you feel that this might be too much for you and it might cause a negative reaction for you, DO NOT READ IT! I do not want to incite any traumatic memories for anyone! And for others who read it and say "Taydo, that was nothing! what was the point of the warning?" It is not my authority to tell people what is triggering and what is not. People react to things in different ways and I would rather them be warned beforehand than go into it headfirst. if you have a problem with it, eat a dick old nigga lmao._

 _(this wasn't short and sweet at all lmaoooo)_

 _anywhomst. I love y'all and do not hesitate to ask me questions! Don't forget to **Read &Review!**_

* * *

Chapter Four: Calling on You

 _ **CinBear:**_ _What about this one?_

Another link to an Instagram of someone that Cindy knew immediately followed. He was kind of cute, but his height and shaggy blonde hair reminded me of every boy I talked to in private school. I definitely didn't want to go down that path again. l replied with a thumbs down emoji.

 _ **CinBear:**_ _seriously? find someone before sat._

I was trying, I swear. But I wasn't interested in any of the guys that Cindy was sending me and none of my Tinder matches were working out. If someone sends me another "wyd" text, l was going to scream.

As I walked into work, l could see Huey at the cash register with his eyes focused on a newspaper in front of him. A huge smile appeared on my face. "Goooood morning, Huey!" I loudly greeted.

"It's 12:30."

"Well, then gooooood afternoon!" l corrected before going to the break room. While I put my backpack into a locker, Cindy sent me another profile of another ugly frat boy. Since her guy of the week was in a frat, I'm pretty sure he was trying to get me to pick one of his friends.

 _ **Me:**_ _ew._

I said hi to Will in the office before going back to the registers. Huey was helping a customer when I came back out. "Busy?" I asked as I got on the counters behind him. He shook his head. "Chill day. Nice."

"To be fair, I did work when everyone was in class," he replied. When he was finished with the customer, he turned to face me. "You're not supposed to be in until 1."

I shrugged. "My Calculus 2 class had a test yesterday so the TA told us not to come in today." I put my hands up. "And now I'm here!" Huey rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was trying to hold in a smile. Once he asked me why l was always hyper and cheerful. The truth was that my dad loved to be in the spotlight and at this point, I was conditioned to always look happy "just in case someone was taking pictures." But instead, I smiled and told him that I was always like this.

 _ **CinBear:**_ _Graham is sweet tho!_

I groaned and threw my head back. I didn't want to go to a stupid frat party anyways, let alone find a date for it. Cindy was seriously testing my loyalty to girl code.

"What's up?" Huey commented, not even looking up from his work. I eyed him until he looked back at me. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You work on Saturday?"

"Morning. Why?" My head perked immediately. I jumped down from the counters and stood next to him, a cheesy grin forming. He glanced at me as I batted my eyelashes for good measure. He sighed heavily. "You're about to ask me something, huh?"

l clapped my hands together. "Yes. So my best friend's new match is a frat daddy and he invited her to a tailgate at their chapter house or whatever, but she doesn't go to parties without me, so I'm being dragged to this thing."

"Uh-huh..."

"Buuuut..." I continued. "I just know she's gonna leave me halfway through because that's what she does best. So she's trying to get me to talk to these frat boys but—"

"Jazmine." Huey interrupted. "Quicker to the point."

I huffed and folded my arms across my chest. "Fine. Can you please go to this dumb thing with me so I won't be alone and so I don't get hit on by those creeps? We can leave at halftime and go do something else… if you want."

"Hm." He didn't say anything as he continued to scribble on his papers. I rolled my eyes waiting on his answer. "You know, you must be really desperate if you had to ask me." I could feel my face warm up immediately. "Firstly, I don't give a damn about parties or drunk white boys."

"Forget I asked then," I muttered into my chest, trying to hide my reddening face. Why couldn't he say no like a normal person?

"I haven't even made a decision yet." Another customer came up to the register and I moved out of the way so Huey could check them out. "Why me?" he finally inquired, his voice somewhat softer than before. He almost sounded genuinely confused.

"Because we're friends? Plus we have fun together." I was finding myself somewhat giddy whenever we had a shift together or when I would FaceTime him for economics. He made me laugh even when he was completely serious. "Tell you what: you come with me to this party, then I'll buy you dinner."

"ls this a date?" he muttered with a small smirk.

I smiled and shook my head. "A show of appreciation for the past couple of weeks." Besides the time before the game, he was doing a lot of nice things for me and I haven't been able to return the favor. "I owe you so…"

He groaned under his breath. "Well… if I have to suffer, at least I'll get a free meal out of it." I squealed and threw my arms around him in a hug. He still scowled when I did that. "Why do I have a feeling that I'm going to regret this?"

"You won't. Promise."

* * *

"You think I poke out too much in these shorts?" I questioned as I analyzed my figure in the mirror. I definitely got my physique from my dad's side, a trait I wasn't grateful for until I got to college. But every now and then I would get pangs on self-consciousness.

"You look fine," Cindy responded, not even turning in my direction. She was furiously texting, only taking breaks to drink from her mixer that had a little too much vodka in it. "Are you almost ready? Because the DD is damn near here." She got up and passed the cup to me, which meant that I had to finish it. I tried to hide my gag reflex from her but stumbled and almost heaved at the end. "Come on! It wasn't even a fourth left!"

"Whatever." Although Cindy had years of experience drinking underage, I was still a newbie. As Cindy called our driver to figure out where he was, a text came through my phone when I was locking the door.

 _ **Huey (work):**_ _be there in 20._

I smiled to myself. I was grateful that I didn't have to suffer through this alone or with someone I barely knew. I would pick Huey over a random Tinder match or semi-blind date any day. I replied back and followed Cindy to the car in front of our complex.

The appeal of Greek Life was lost on me. Why would anyone want to get beat up for the sake of "brotherhood"? Pledges had to be a personal chauffeur for all the parties with no pay, all because the upperclassmen said so. Our driver said he didn't mind when I asked him about it, that being a part of something big meant more than the humiliation he endured.

 _ **Huey (work):**_ _you there yet? How white is it?_

We just pulled up when he texted me. We were still kind of early and there weren't that many people here, but I could tell that so far I was the darkest person here.

 _ **Me:**_ _just think about what you want for dinner and not about that lol_

"Jazzy! Come here real quick!" Cindy motioned for me to join her with two other boys. "So you already know Zeke, but this is Graham. He's one of Zeke's frat buddies." Graham gave me a toothy smile as he opened his arms for a hug.

I gave Cindy a mean but subtle side-eye as I reluctantly went to hug him. He smelled of Jack Daniels and cheap cologne. Cindy knew that I didn't like him earlier in the week. Why would she think my position changed in a matter of days?

"Anyways, Graham was just telling me about himself and Jazzy? You guys have a lot in common," Cindy remarked proudly as if she really thought she succeeded in getting us together. Graham pulled out a flask from his pocket and took a giant swig from it, causing him to shake his head and let out a heavy burp. He laughed boisterously before giving Zeke a high five.

"Really? Like what?" I knew that they were both full of it because I've seen his Instagram profile of him drinking and fishing. One look at his over-starched Polo and salmon pink shorts and I knew that we had nothing in common. But if Cindy was going to force this interaction, then I wasn't going to be sweet about it. "What's something that we're both super passionate about?" I inquired, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

He looked at Cindy before looking back at me. "Uhh…" he started. I watched him squirm as he tried to think of anything that I would be interested in. He scoffed. "The environment or some shit? How the hell am I supposed to know?"

I blinked at him before turning to Cindy. "Wow, you really found me a keeper, Cin!" A text from Huey that he was in the front saved me from talking to Graham. I muttered that I was going to be back and swiftly dipped from the group. There were now more people outside by this time and I thought it was going to be impossible to find him, but before pulled out my phone to call him, I felt someone brush against my arm. It was a soft touch but enough to get my attention.

"You made it!" I grinned. His unwavering scowl indicated he wanted to be anywhere but here. I gave him a small side hug to soften him up but to no avail. "Thanks. Really."

"Jaz. What did you get me into?"

"Didn't drag you here since you came willingly," I corrected. I grabbed his elbow and walked towards the front of the house. "Besides, you're getting food out of this!" I responded, trying to be optimistic. "You dressed for you to look so _mean_."

He looked down at his button-down shirt. "You think this is nice?"

l rolled my eyes. "I see you in tees and sweats like... every day. l was starting to think that you didn't own anything else." l glanced over at him. "You look nice though. I wouldn't've worn light sneakers to a backyard party but still nice."

"Wait what?"

We got to the front where two guys were asking for IDs. I let go of Huey's arm and pulled mine out of my pocket while Huey got his out of his wallet. I was every time I gave my ID, even though it has passed the test dozens of times. I smiled at the bouncer as he put a red wristband on me. "Thanks!"

Huey eyed me as his hand was marked with a giant black "X". When we inside and out of earshot, he leaned close to me. "I thought you were 19."

"I am." I turned to him with a small smirk. "Sometimes I dabble in a little… teenage rebellion." He gave a non-committal grunt and I felt the need to defend myself. "It's really because my roomie loves the twenty-one-and-up crowd. I just come along."

"I see."

We finally got outside to the party and I scanned the backyard for Cindy. When we spotted her group, I looked over at Huey. "Are you gonna handle talking to dumb white boys for an hour?"

He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "This meal better be good."

I laughed as we walked towards Cindy, Zeke, and Graham. I swear it felt like slow motion when she turned around to see me. The smile on her face instantly dropped as her eyes darted to Huey, jaw locking while we came closer. I couldn't even hide my smirk at this point. "Hey guys! This is my friend Huey! He wasn't busy and I told him that he can come hang out with us." Huey made no effort to greet the group, but the feeling was mutual.

"Jazmine?" Cindy finally said. "A word?" Before I even answered, she was already pulling me away from everyone. "Jazzy, what the fuck! Why did you bring him here?"

"You told me to find someone!"

She scoffed. "Well... yeah but I meant out of the guys that I was sending you!" She pulled on the ends of her braids and groaned.

l rolled my eyes. "I didn't _like_ any of the guys you were sending me," I spat back. "Graham clearly isn't interested in getting to know me, so sorry I wanna be with someone that I actually like and want to talk to." l glanced back at Huey, who in the brief moment that we locked eyes, mentally told me to save him.

"So you like him?"

I stopped myself from adamantly denying it, my defense mechanism. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. "So what if I do?" I replied, turning on my heel and returning to the group. I could hear Cindy grumbling in the background. "What did I miss?"

"Absolutely nothing,'' Huey responded in a monotone voice.

Cindy sucked her teeth and turned to her date. "Zeke. Buy me a drink,'' she commanded before dragging him in the direction of the bar.

Graham drank again from his flask. "What about you, girl? You want me to get you a drink?" He sloppily wiped his mouth and tried to move towards me. Huey immediately stepped in front of me. "Dude. I'm just asking her if—"

"She's good." While Graham definitely had the weight factor over him, Huey was about a good three inches taller. His right hand twitched in anticipation, waiting to retaliate if Graham decided to be so bold.

Graham backed off, muttering to himself as he walked away. Huey stood still for a brief moment before turning back to me. "The game is about to start." Another beat of silence. "Did you want anything to drink?"

I nodded softly. I watched him while we walked to the bar. He was still a mystery to me: he seemed so transparent and yet I knew nothing about him. He was quiet, but his posture gave off an authoritative vibe. If he says something, you listened.

"I just want water," he answered after looking at the poster board that listed all the drinks they had at the moment. "To be honest, funding keggers for white boys aren't really my thing." The bartender glared at Huey, but Huey was too unbothered to care about him.

I pulled a twenty from my pocket. "Good thing you don't have to," I replied, flashing my wristband as I ordered one of the specialty drinks on the menu. "What _is_ your thing, though?"

He looked over at me and opened his mouth, but closed it just as quick. He shrugged instead. "I don't have a thing."

"Yeah but… everybody has a thing. You gotta have a thing."

"All I _gotta_ do is stay black and die," he replied shortly.

There was something about him that I couldn't put my finger on. The way he just... carried himself enticed me. I sipped on my drink as we went back inside the house. My mind wandered to what Cindy asked me earlier. Did I like him? I felt _something_ for sure. But I think that I liked that he wasn't talking to me on the basis of trying to hook up with me.

We found some chairs by the edge of the room; far enough to be away from everyone but close enough to be able to see the screen. Although I hated frat tailgates, I liked that they projected the games on the wall in the living room. It almost makes up for them all being a-holes.

Almost.

By the end of the first quarter, Maryland was already down by ten and I was getting annoyed. I took another drink and huffed. "I wonder if our coach realizes that running the ball for no gain isn't exactly a smart game plan?" I complained. "Like seriously. Another dink and dunk on a third and long? Shocker!"

"How did you get into sports?" Huey asked. I looked over at him. He watched me with wonder as if he was genuinely interested in what I had to say. "I wouldn't expect someone like you to be so into football."

I turned to him. "My nana, prissy and bougie as she can be most of the time, right? But as soon as LSU or the Saints were playing, it's like she turned into a whole different person." I could still remember how she was on game days. I smiled at the memory. "The weekends were the best because that's when all the cousins would spend the night at Nana's house. Football was the only time that we weren't all jumping around." The grip on my cup got a little tighter. It had been a long time since I got the chance to do that since we moved to Baltimore. Especially with everything that Nana last year, I was feeling lowkey guilty about it.

The whistle from the game knocked me back into reality. I glanced back at Huey, who still had his focus on me. My cheeks started to flare up. "Sorry," I muttered softly. "Sometimes I get in my head too deeply."

He simply nodded.

The game was getting close to halftime and besides, I was getting tired of the drunk white girls walking in front of the screen every five minutes. I stood up and stretched towards the sky. I downed the rest of the contents in the cup and tossed it into a nearby trash can. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom and then we can leave. Cool?"

"Do you want me to come with you?"

I blinked. "Do you… think I need help going to the bathroom?"

"No!" he blurted out. Now it was his turn to blush. "It's just that… I didn't mean like inthe bathroom with you, but the way! I don't need to come in you—with you! I don't need to come _in_ the bathroom _with_ you."

"Okay…" I tried to hide my giggles from him. I could tell that Huey's jaw was set and he was frustrated with what he said. "How about this: I can go to the bathroom and you can stay here. Besides, if I'm longer than five minutes you can come look for me. Figure out what you want to eat in the meantime."

He nodded as I headed to the bathroom. While I wasn't full-on drunk, I could feel the alcohol in my system. I just felt… good. The bathroom next to the living room had a long line, so I went upstairs to find another one. Eventually, I came across a room that had a bathroom attached to it on the other side of the house. There wasn't even a line in front of it. Lucky me.

I pushed the door and turned on the light. Besides a can of air freshener and a towel, the bathroom was bare and spotless. I get that it was clean for the party, but even my bathroom was riddled with haircare and beauty products after I cleaned it. Nevertheless, it was better than the option of it being absolutely disgusting.

I finished up and gave myself a look in the mirror before heading out. I pulled down my tube top and shorts one more time and ran my fingers through my hair. The humidity had it frizzing at the roots and conveniently I forgot a scrunchie today. I huffed. Whatever.

As I walked out of the bathroom, I could see someone sitting on the edge of the bed. He turned to face me. Graham. That toothy grin appeared again as he got up and drunkenly wandered in my direction.

"Well, well, well," he started, the smell of whiskey apparent on his breath. "As fate would have it, we meet again."

"Hardly," I shot back. I focused on the door the entire time.

He sucked his teeth. "Why you gotta be like this?" He hiccuped then burped. "I know how girls like you act. Sheltered life and this the first time you're out of Daddy's house. You got daddy issues, Jazmine?" I glared at him. "Love to fuck girls with daddy issues."

I attempted to push away from him. "As thrilling as this conversation has been, I have—"

 **00000**

Graham pushed me back against the wall. "Jazmine, I don't like this hard to get shit. Fuck a chase. I get what I want when I want it." I had officially entered panic mode. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest and my eyes kept darting around to find something to defend myself with.

"I heard about how you are. A fucking _tease_." The venom in his voice sent terror shivers down my spine. "I think that's a front. I think you're just as easy as Cindy, you just don't wanna admit it. I _know_ you want to fuck me." He leaned in to caress my face.

"Don't," I replied as I moved away from his touch.

A small chuckle. "Feisty. Don't worry, I can fix that." He went in for a kiss and immediately I slapped him. Graham paused for a second, touching the spot that was now turning a shade of pink in the shape of my hand. He turned back to me, fuming. "Fucking bitch. Now, I'm really bout to fuck you up."

He grabbed both of my arms and started pulling towards the bed. "Graham, no please! Stop! No!" I pleaded, trying to resist him. I kept trying to pull back, but he was a lot stronger than me. "Please! Don't do this, please!"

He threw me onto the bed and gave me a sadistic smile as he tried to get on top of me. "If you shut the fuck up, maybe Daddy will—" I didn't let him finish before I punched him straight in the throat. As he grabbed his throat, I kicked him off the bed and off of me. "Motherfucker!"

 **00000**

I sped out of the room quickly. I was too busy making sure Graham wasn't following me that I didn't even notice someone was coming out of the other room. We collided and I fell on my butt. I tried to rub away the incoming headache.

"Jazmine?" I blinked and saw Huey standing in front of me, hand already out to help me up. My eyes welled with tears and as I got up, I enveloped him in a hug and squeezed him hard. "Where were you? What happened…" he trailed off. I looked up to see him coldly staring ahead of him. I turned behind me and saw Graham emerging out of the room I just ran out of. Huey's fists were already forming.

"Jazzy… come back so we can talk," Graham said.

Huey pushed me to where I was now behind him. "Told you before, she's good."

"Fuck you, I'm not talking to you," Graham answered.

Huey took a step forward, but I held on tighter to him. "Huey… don't," I didn't want to see him get in a fight because of me and plus I was sick of seeing Graham's stupid face. "He's not even worth it." He sighed heavily and followed me to the stairs.

"That's right, you better run!" Graham spat out. "Wouldn't want to beat a nigga's ass today!"

We both stopped and turned back to him. I blinked and quietly stepped away from Huey. Huey swiftly walked up to Graham and before Graham could square up properly, Huey hit him with a quick jab to the jaw, knocking him out cold. He said nothing as he took my hand again and lead me to the stairs. I looked back at Graham one last time, still slumped on the ground.

Good.

* * *

I unlocked the door to my apartment and let out a sigh. I was finally back in my comfort zone. I moved out of the way to let Huey in. "You can just… make yourself comfortable," I muttered, motioning to the couch. He watched me stand in the middle of the room as I tried to figure out what to do next. Suddenly I felt like a foreigner in my own apartment, confused about where I was or what I was doing. I was… lost.

"Jaz."

I blinked my eyes and looked over at Huey. "Do you want a blanket?" I asked, already walking towards the linen closet. He shook his head. I grabbed my favorite quilt that Nana made for me and draped it over my shoulders. I went to sit down next to him, hugging my knees and resting my head on top. "You can turn it to whatever you want."

He was silent the whole time while he flipped through the channels, finally settling on a college football game. LSU. I finally let out a small chuckle as I turned to him. I noticed how his hand rested between us and how it looked a little off. I watched his face as I picked up his hand, a slight wince appearing. I studied his knuckles, reds and light purples starting to show. I lightly pressed down on one.

"Ow—fuck Jazmine!" He jerked his hand back quickly. "It's a bruised knuckle, not a broken one."

"I'm just making sure," I mumbled. His slender hand was unblemished except for his knuckles and suddenly finding myself stifling my sobs. "I'm sorry," I squeaked out, trying to hold in all of my emotions. "Your hand is all messed up because of me!"

"You did nothing wrong." At this point, I couldn't stop my tears even if I tried. I bit down on my lip hard but that wouldn't keep my shoulders from shaking. "Jazmine." I wiped my face and blinked the rest of the tears away before looking up to him. "You didn't do a damn thing wrong."

"It's just… the way he spoke to me and how just didn't care…" I trailed off. I shivered as I replayed his words over and over in my head. Huey quietly wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into him. I knew he hated it; he hated it when I hugged him, no matter how much I continued to do it. But he knew how much I needed to be comforted right now. "Thank you," I whispered into his chest. I felt completely safe.

"Do you think you need to talk to someone?' That was out of the question. Talking to someone meant that parents would eventually get involved and that meant explaining to my dad why I was drunk at a frat party I had no business being at in the first place. That also meant if it got out, that I would have cameras in my face for the rest of the semester at least. This was an election year; I couldn't bring any unwarranted press to the family.

I shook my head.

"If you think that's best then—" He was interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling. I sat up, my eyes wide. He blushed. "My bad… it was just that…"

I smacked my forehead. "I owe you dinner! Why didn't you remind me?"

"Well…"

I pulled out my phone and opened one of the delivery apps that Cindy and I used so often. "There's this one place burger place on here that makes a bomb veggie burger and I know this because I accidentally got it one time and I didn't realize it was veggie until I read the description the next time." I turned to him. "You wanna try it? Plus we can stay in and watch a movie or something. I'm not gonna force you to watch football all day… although there _is_ a game I wanted to—"

"You're rambling again." I rolled my eyes at him. "But I'm glad you feel better."

I smiled as we continued looking through the different restaurants on the app when a text from Cindy came through.

 _ **CinBear:**_ _did u hear Graham got knocked out at the party?_


End file.
